Pages

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

How about we get ready for summer with a brand new bag tutorial? I'm switching up the classic gym bag shape to be chic & fun for us stylish ladies in my Bon Voyage Travel Duffel Bag:

The handy 18 inch wide by 9 inch high size makes a great weekender bag for anyone wanting style coupled with lots of carrying room. I just took it on a weekend getaway and was able to get 5 full outfits in it! A girl's got to have extra fashion options, right?

Purse feet give the bag bottom protection and some high end detail:

Full length zipper top closure means it's easy to get everything in and out of the bag:

Iron fusible fleece onto wrong side of all pieces, centering the slightly smaller fusible so there is even spacing on the sides of the fabric:

Start with the shoulder straps. Fold each lone strap in half lengthwise and stitch 1/4 inch from edge down one side. Clip corner and turn right side out with a knitting needle or pencil.

Press strap so that seam is in center.

Edge stitch along each strap.

With right sides facing, stitch together the bottom edges of the two main outer pieces with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Repeat with the lining pieces, but leave a 3 inch gap for turning. Press seams open.

Take outer and pin each strap so the ends are each 2 inches above the bottom seam and 6 inches inward from the sides. Stitch straps to main bag, stitching directly over the edge stitching, stopping 3 inches from top raw edge.:

Take bottom panel and press the long sides under 1/2 inch:

Center the bottom panel over the main bag's bottom seam, pin, then edge stitch in place.

Now it's time to attach the feet. Measure 3 inches inward from each side and 1 1/4 inches from the top and bottom of the bottom panel and mark the placement.

Use thread scissors to carefully make a small slit through each marking:

Insert purse foot with prongs pressed together and slip washer over them. Push prongs open and flat.

Repeat with remaining 3 purse feet.

To make the custom piping, cut (2) 1 inch wide strips on the bias from the Tribeca Red fabric. Note: Cutting can be done at a 60 degree angle, instead of the usual 45 degree, to get the full length needed out of a 1/2 yard cut.

Trim the strips and two pieces of basic piping to be at least 28 inches long.

Wrap strip around piping and pin into place. Stitch close to cording of the piping using a zipper foot.

With raw edges together, stitch piping to outer bag circles, again using a zipper foot, starting 1/2 inch from the starting end (this will be key for finishing):

Upon reaching the end, overlap the raw ends, slightly downward and stitch into place as shown:

Now the outer circle sides are nice & piped:

Time to attach the zipper. With zipper facing downward, pin zipper tape along the top raw edge of one side of the main bag. Stitch along close to zipper teeth, leaving 1/2 inch length unstitched at start & end.

Pin other side of zipper tape to the other top side of the main bag. This will make a tube shape. Keeping the body of the bag out of the way (so you are only sewing the seam allowance area), stitch zipper tape & fabric together, again, leaving 1/2 inch length unstitched at start & end. Open zipper a few inches - this will be needed for turning later.

With right sides facing, pin each side circle to the newly made cylinder. Stitch on top of the stitching of the piping.

Clip around curves, careful not to clip into stitching:

Time to assemble & attach the lining. With the right side of the fabric facing down, pin one side of lining to the seam allowance of the already sewn main bag and zipper as shown and stitch over existing stitching with zipper foot.

Pull remaining raw side of lining to other side of zipper seam and repeat. Now the lining will appear to be a tube connected at the zipper to the main bag:

Attach side circles as done previously. It will now look like to bags connected at the zipper. Carefully pull the right sides out through the gap in the bottom of the lining.

Then slipstitch the gap closed by hand and push lining inside of the main bag.

Now the Bon Voyage Duffel Bag is ready for you to start traveling and looking glamorous!

Ummmm this is super adorable! I have been having a serious lack of sewing inspiration lately (like almost depressing)--this is the first thing I've seen recently that I thought "Oh Ok! Yes that's happening!" so thank you!

I love this duffle bag! If I win the giveaway, I'd make this duffle with it, I love that fabric!! I'd also make the Essentials Wallet from Crafty Gemini's Quilt Club! That fabric would be perfect! Time to add your Duffle to my project list! Thanks!!

I'm in love with this! Thank you for sharing this with us! Pinned and tweeted! I hope to see you at tonight's party. We are always so impressed with your creations and can't wait to see them! Lou Lou Girls

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing. You are one of the features at the Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House! Here is the link to this week's party. http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2015/06/make-it-pretty-monday-week-140.html Have a wonderful evening. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

Hi Cheryl! The Weekly Feature Series is live which you are apart of. Here is the link so you can check out your feature. http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2015/06/weekly-feature-series_26.html Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

I just finished making this bag for my daughter to use for dance. It turned out cute, but I had a hard time with it. This was my first bag, so I expected some of it to be hard, but the 1 yard cut of fusible fleece wasn't enough, and I had to piece scraps together to cover all the pieces. The other issue I had I never did figure out. HOW did you make such narrow straps, line them with fleece, and manage to turn them right side out? I finally cut 2 extra strips of the strap fabric and made the straps twice as wide. It was still hard to turn them with the fleece, but doable. I couldn't even get the narrower version in the pattern to start to turn, let alone do the whole length. Maybe there's a trick I don't know? I mostly sew quilts. :) Thank you for sharing this tutorial! My daughter is thrilled with the bag, and it gave me the confidence to try another zipper bag. Maybe without straps, though. :)

If you've never made a bag before, this is definitely a challenging project, so pat yourself on the back! There are a lot of details & techniques here that are not beginner level. I used fusible fleece that came 45" wide, which should give you enough. The strap pieces should turn ok if using something narrow like a pencil or knitting needle, but making them a little wider works too. I also have a similar bag tutorial here but using a single strap that would be much easier for a second bag try: http://www.sewcando.com/2016/04/tutorial-time-little-dancer-ballet-bag_27.html

I would never try to make straps that you have to turn. What would be easiest is to cut strips the length you need, but make them 5-6" wide. Fold in half lengthwise and press. Open up and fold each side in toward the center and press. Tuck a strip of fusible fleece under one of the flaps. Then fold the whole thing in half along the original center fold and stitch up the open side and the other side for symmetry. Easy peasy.

And you're free to do that Ashley. This is one way to do it, I've just presented another. Some machines can struggle sewing through that many layers with the folding, but whatever someone is most comfortable doing is fine as the finished result will look nearly the same.

I found it impossible to turn the narrow fleece-lined strips. I gave up and used Ashley's method. I used a 1" strip of batting tucked inside. Fusible fleece is not necessary. My walking foot made stitching easy.

I made it!! Turned out rather nice. Used webbing for handles. First time working with piping, I used 3/16" Dritz cable cord and wrapped with 1 1/2" fabric. My lining seem a bit large, I might try an inch less fabric for this. All in all very pretty. Thank you

This post is from 3 years ago, so that fabric collection is no longer in print from the maker. I'd say try searching for it to see if there are any small shops that might still have some available. Etsy too.